The MandrakeHitler, Napoleon and Cromwell all kept Machiavelli constantly by their sides, and in the author’s celebrated play it’s easy to see why: here self-interest rules, and scruples are a luxury. We may feel, after all we have seen, we have lost the power to be shocked, but The Mandrake puts that feeling to the test!Yet this is all delivered with a light touch and in amusing, often comic interludes, skilfully rendered in a lively contemporary idiom in David Crook’s new free adaptation.Each Act is followed by spots of upbeat and sparkling Renaissance music performed by the trio The King Awaits.